The answer to whether Israel should exist is unmistakably and unequivocally yes. Israel should exist and has every right to exist. May it thrive and prosper like few other nations in history. Unlike many others who take a stand on the Israeli solution, I think too many posture and pontificate without having anything at risk in the debate. As a leader of a people – the Gay community and an elected leader of the FIGS Party – the Free, Independent Gay State Party, I can tell you that the issue is anything but a sterile academic debate when it comes to freedom, independence and the very survival of a people. And unlike so many who take a stand on Israel, I am not among the chorus who say the solution to the Middle East involves the relocation of Israel. As a people, they have all ready been grossly and unjustly wronged.

Having said that, let me be very clear. Any group – any minority that has been wronged, should be made whole and then some. My people, the people of the Gay State for instance, are due for the opportunity to be made whole by the entire international community. It should be made whole and then some. Its conditions deserve to be improved upon as never before. Does it even the score for thousands of years of savage and brutal oppression? No, it doesn’t. It does however, give the oppressors an opportunity to finally do the right thing and make amends for the past injustices they have wrought on the Gay people.

The Israeli’s on the other hand, have been made whole, but they have not yet received their “and then some.” The international community and Israel’s Middle East neighbors in particular, need to atone for the treatment they have foisted on the Israeli people. And in the spirit of equality and fairness, just as the people of the Gay State need to be made whole and then some, Palestinians deserve nothing less in fair and equitable treatment. As any reader of “The Gay State” all ready knows, I do not favor an approach that involves degrees of equality. Even in the most enlightened and progressive nations on Earth, Gays are still very often treated as first class taxpayers and second class citizens. We know that in large swaths of the American landscape, Gays experience nothing short of the internationally regarded “American Gay Apartheid.” This incremental approach to achieving equality is wrong-headed and ultimately doomed to fail.

So what does the international community do to address the Palestinian issue? What would you want if YOU were left to endure a life of squalor and poverty amid a prison-like confinement that batters the human soul? I don’t know of one Israeli family that would trade places with a Palestinian family. The Palestinians need to be treated – deserve to be treated humanely. No one – Gay, Israeli, American, nor any other people would want the unspeakable conditions forced on the Palestinians to fall upon them. The disgust is how the international community merely turns a blind eye to their unimaginable suffering. This is a war for justice and humanity and as always in these wars, few heed the sense of urgency. Toward this end, the Palestinians need to be made whole and then some. Every day that the world hesitates in solving this dilemma, more extremists and more terrorists are created. This writer says slash a portion of the revenue pumped into the military industrial complex and instead spend the money building bridges, enhancing communities and lifting children up to a place where they can see a brighter future for themselves.

The issue in most practical terms, boils down to land and freedom. The land will not be land taken from Israel. This is clear, obvious and non-negotiable. The people of Israel have all ready been sufficiently wronged by international powers who have made a colossal mess of things. Instead, the land for the Palestinians will be land bought and paid for by the international community. How many billions of dollars will the international community invest to solve one of the world’s great injustices and in the process bring true and lasting peace to the Middle East? Conversely, which nation is willing to step up and be willing to cede a portion of its land for a very handsome price? Jordan? Egypt? Syria? Or perhaps somewhere a bit more exotic; Libya, Iraq or Saudi Arabia for example? Some say the Palestinians, like old prisoners, do not easily leave their cells. They will not go quietly from their ancestral homeland. Like countless others who left their homeland to provide a better life for their children and like so many American’s who have no sense of place, it is now the Palestinians who need to relocate to offer a fresh start for its families and a brighter future for its children. The Irish nearly emptied their homeland a century ago in search of a new start. At this moment, the citizens of Nauru and Kiribati are leaving their homelands in droves to make a new start as their homelands sink into the Pacific. Many more nations will face similar fates in the years to come. Similarly, the Palestinians need to exit the refugee squatter camps they call home and build something new and grander than they have ever had. Beautiful homes, excellent schools, modern healthcare and employment awaits the Palestinians in their new homeland. There is no shame in starting over. Doing so may be the unique American optimism but conditions may well prove to be better than ever before.

There was a time in the late 1800’s when the location of a future Jewish State was considered in far-away Argentina or even the Orient. Had the Jewish State followed through on Theodor Herzl’s concept, they might not be in the Middle-East and the world would not find itself in such dreary circumstances. An infrastructure should be built and the Palestinian’s given a chance to prosper according to their own drive and merit. This is a new beginning that will vastly improve the quality of life for the Palestinian people for generations to come. For example, for the people of the Gay State, we want nothing more than the politically autonomous territory where we can be left to live in peace and to live according to our ability and drive. If we as a people should utterly fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The Palestinians deserve nothing less. Palestinian parents will finally be able to provide their children with safety, freedom, modern conveniences, a sense of peace and liberty, and the ability to allow their children to grow up and experience the joy and prosperity we all wish for our families.

I think all parties agree the current scenario is unpalatable all the way around. All parties should be made whole and then some. For all of the suffering and past injustices, the international community needs to step up and do the right thing. This might well be the last best chance to secure a lasting peace that could transform the Middle-East.

In the 21st century, is humankind mature enough to realize that some cultures do not blend well with others? That nations around the world subject our Gay citizens to life imprison or sentence them to death because of who we are and who we love is all the evidence the we need. We also surely must admit that humanity is not yet mature enough for diverse societies to coexist within one state. Many claim the Israeli’s should be condemned for their ongoing aggressiveness. Many say the Palestinians are a front for terrorism. For my people, the Gay people, one of our thirteen Gaymandments is forgiveness. We work on forgiving those who continue to attack us, even after Gay people have endured thousands of years of mistreatment. Without forgiveness from both the Israeli’s and the Palestinians, the festering wounds from the ongoing hostility will prevent both sides from reaching a greater and higher plain. Therefore, let us agree to separate, peaceably, fairly for the betterment of all peoples involved. With a free and prosperous Israel, a free and prosperous Palestine, all of humanity can exhale. As for Israel, it should exist and be allowed to thrive in peace. So too should the Palestinians and even the Gay State which I proudly represent.